


Great Tragedy Brings Great Blessings

by xRYDERx



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Counselor Coulson, F/F, F/M, Frosthawk - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of sad shit, M/M, Multi, Principal Fury, So much sass and bitchiness, Stark Spangled Banner - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-25 22:53:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xRYDERx/pseuds/xRYDERx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the death of his father Loki is welcomed into the Odinson family. He doesn't try to fit in, doesn't want to, but his new brother will have none of that! Thor works hard to convince Loki its okay to settle in and let his guard down but it takes a village to help him realize he's exactly where he belongs.</p><p>On the other hand, Clint's interested in the new student, Natasha pretends the rumors don't bother her, Pepper is hiding a secret from everyone, Bruce doesn't want to hurt anyone, Tony is the last person who should be told a secret, Steve is falling for the sassy Stark, and Thor and Jane are totally in love and everyone sees it but them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Great Tragedy Brings Great Blessings

For five years Loki’s internal clock had been waking him a half hour before his alarm or even the sun could break through to his subconcious. He awoke fully aware of his surroundings, knowing he was _home_ in _his_ bed, and instead of going back to sleep like most teenagers in America he’d instantly prepare for the day. Sundays never deterred him from his habits. His mother’s death hadn’t disrupted his schedule. His father’s death hadn’t affected his daily motions one bit. Today, though, he was unable to get up. He hadn’t gone to sleep for too long, dreams interrupted with images of his family happily laughing together. He’d been older though, able to discuss business with his father, and tall enough to rival his height. He’d been able to bring his mother into a waltz now instead of stepping on her toes like when he was a child, and he could easily press a loving kiss to her temple being a head taller than her now. Those dreams were the worst.

Loki could deal with the nightmares, they were just memories. It was the good dreams he hated- because he could never have them. It was too late for him.

So instead he lay in his new bed, drowning in his own needless melancholy. He relived the last moments with both his parents. Both died because of snow, how ironic that winter was his favorite season.

And both died because of him-

“Loki! Brother, wake up! It’s your first day of school!”

Thor.

After his father’s death two weeks ago Loki had found that his will entitled him to three things. He was now the largest shareholder in the Laufey Medical Corporation, his father had left him his fortune which funneled a certain amount to him every week while the trust fund set up for him would kick in at 21 and most importantly, most infuriatingly, he would be taken in by a man who he’d only met a handful of times.

“Brother!” Thor burst through the door.

Loki brought his head off the pillow to glare at his smiling disturbance, only to roll his eyes and drop it back down to the comfort of duck feathers.

He’d only been there for two days now but his new… peer… was getting on his nerves. It was bad enough that he had to live in a suburban neighborhood instead of his New York flat, but he had a huge, obnoxious, dim-witted oaf for a brother. Thor just didn’t get that Loki had no intention of being friends, or brothers, or  _bros_. Definitely not  _bros_.

“Come now, Loki. You wouldn’t want to be late for school, would you?” the oaf asked, leaping onto the bed.

_Oh no, we wouldn't want that. Tch._

 

“You’ll love Shield! The school is great!”

_Says the popular defensive lineback._

“My friends are dying to meet you.”

_I wish **you’d** die._

“And I know we won’t be in the same classes since you’re a sophomore-“

_Thank God for the little things_

“But my friend Natasha is the Sophmore Class Pres and she’ll take great care of you.”

_Joy._

“Not to mention she’s a cheerleader.”

_Kill me now._

“So if you’re friends with her you’ll be popular in no tim- Say, Loki?” Thor trailed off.

“What is it now, Thor?” Loki was beyond annoyed at this point.

“It’s just - well summer break has just ended.”

“Thank you for that most erroneous weather report,” Loki sneered, sarcasm dripping like venom from his mouth.

“Well – I mean – it’s just – Why are you wearing a pajama pants and a t-shirt? It was so hot last night,” Thor wondered aloud. He pondered the subject while Loki avoided looking at him. “I myself slept completely naked.”

“I-I was cold last night! I just was - so don’t ask!”

Loki ran to the bathroom connecting to both teenage boys rooms and locked both doors. He’d been sweating under the covers all night long. Usually Loki would sleep in boxers during those summer nights so he didn’t need the a/c, but that was at his home. This place was not his home. This was a house that he would currently be staying in until he became of age and could leave the rotten hellhole of Shield City.

_This house is temporary_

He told himself that every night before he went to bed. He had to reassure himself he could leave, that he  _would_  leave. Getting attached to anything or anyone was a big negative. Not possible. In the end he would have to leave and take over LMC.

_I have to leave._

Perhaps he’d take over the office in England. He liked England; they left him alone in England.

_I will leave._

_-000-_

The car ride had been boring but cool from the A/C in Thor’s canary yellow hummer. Loki had scoffed at the vehicle. It was as large and abhorrent as its owner, and Loki had no idea how he could have pictured the jock in anything smaller.

_My mistake._

He’d listened to his mp3 the entire ride and followed Thor into the school once they’d parked. He guided Loki to the principal’s office but had to leave him thank god.

“Now, text me your schedule and I’ll come find you later. Alright? I have Phys Ed for first so I have to get going before the bell rings. Just wait right here.”

Thor knocked on the door and entered when a deep voice said  _come in_. He exchanged a few words before popping his head back out and telling Loki to go in.

“Don’t worry, Loki. I’ll make sure you have a good year,” Thor promised with a reassuring smile.

Loki just nodded and watched the blond run off down the hall, waving at and greeting just about everyone. Loki shook his head and entered the office. Behind a large, beautifully crafted mahogany desk was a bald, black man. The older man wore an eye patch over his right eye. He looked up from his papers and gestured for Loki to sit across from him. When Loki sat he pulled a file off the top of his wired file organizer at the corner of his desk.

“Loki Laufeyson. Sophmore. Straight A student, perfect attendance, no extracurricular activities, bad attitude toward peers and transferred schools constantly due to fighting. Am I missing anything?” Principal Fury asked calmly.

Loki just looked at him for a moment, a bit sour. He never initiated the fights.

“I’m a Capricorn,” Loki informed his principal.

Neither was amused.

“Cute. That may have been the case at your old school, but I won’t tolerate that kind of behavior. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes,” Loki answered after a long moment of silence and staring right at one another.

There was a knock at the door and Fury called for whoever it was to enter.

A young woman, his age, with long, beautifully curled crimson hair stepped in. Her calm blue eyes looked from Fury to Loki then back.

“Good morning, sir,” she greeted the man. She took the seat beside Loki and nodded to him.

“Laufeyson, this is Natasha Romanov. Romanov, Loki Laufeyson. She’s going to show you around.”

Fury removed two sheets of paper from the printer behind him, turned, and handed it to Loki.

“This is your schedule, locker number and combination and a map of campus. If you have any problems with it you can talk to-“

“I have a problem with it,” Loki interrupted the principal. “Why are there only two AP classes here? I was told I could have as many as I desired.”

“Taking your circumstances into account we-“

“Circumstances?” Loki stood, towering over the desk. “What circumstances? I need those AP classes to get into Harvard.”

Loki practically growled.

“If, after a certain amount of time passes, you have proven yourself academically capable to handle your current courses you may come back and ask for a full load of Advanced Placement courses.”

“You can’t do this.”

“Actually I’m the principal. I can do whatever I want.” Principal Fury now directed his attention to Natasha. Loki still stood, too infuriated to sit. “Romanov, show him around would you? I’ll let your teachers know. I’ve got my eye on you Laufeyson.”

_Because you only have one._

“Yes sir,” Romanov nodded and proceeded to take Loki by the arm. He slapped her hand away and exited on his own. Natasha followed with a shrug and closed the door behind her. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Loki glared down at the shorter girl and turned away before he could say something stupid. He wasn’t the type to disrespect women, he was raised to be a gentleman afterall, but the rage building up within him was strong enough to change him into something he wasn’t. With a sigh he cracked his aching neck and attempted to calm himself.

“So, you were going to show me around? Romanov, was it?” Loki asked. He was actually succeeding in calming himself. What an odd twist.

“You can just call me Natasha. Let’s start off this way.”

Loki handed her his schedule after noticing a set of three numbers above a combination. Locker number. She studied the pallid paper for a minute and began walking.

“Your locker number. It’s next to Jane’s,” she said out loud. “At the very least you’ll have a pretty face to look forward to in the morning.”

“That doesn’t concern me,” Loki said with a sigh.

Two rows of red lockers lined the pale walls decorated with hand painted  **“Welcome Back Eagles”** signs. Loki rolled his eyes at the school spirit surrounding him. His previous schools had all been clean private schools painted in whites and grays; totally dreary. He preferred the dreary, the cold. His last school in Surrey, Kings’ Academy, had been one of those places. He missed that place. They were so refined, but these Americans…

“Natasha!” a voice yelled down the hall ahead of them. The voice belonged to a young woman who stood panting at the end of the hall. She ran over to them, her brown, curly hair bouncing along with her movements and her chestnut brown dress swaying. She pulled her white sweater closer to her body and smiled brightly. “Natasha, hey. Sorry for getting the banners up so late. The decoration committee had a huge crisis involving – well you don’t want to know, believe me.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Natasha replied. She sighed in exasperation, obviously accustomed to it.

“Oh, how rude of me,” the cute brunette now turned her attention to Loki. “I’m Jane. Jane Foster. It’s really nice to meet you-“

“Loki.”

It was a simple response but the smile she gave Loki somehow made him feel better.

“I guess I should get to class. Sorry again, Tasha. See you after school for the Student Council meeting,” Jane said cheerfully. She ran down the hall opposite of the way she came. “Bye Loki! It was great meeting you!”

Loki watched her leave before turning back to Natasha and continuing the tour. Something about her was familiar. His mind wandered back to the dreams he’d had and he cringed.

“-And here’s your locker. 713. That girl you just met was your locker neighbor,” Natasha informed him. She gestured to locker 715, to the right, and sure enough the letters J-A-N-E were labeled in glittery gold stickers with an equally gold star just beside it. “She’s in your fourth period so don’t be surprised if your brother walks pass your classroom ever so stealthily.”

Natasha smirked at Loki’s raised brow of confusion. She just left it at that and wandered farther down the hall, pointing out certain classrooms. She continued talking while Loki’s concentration wavered. He wasn’t attracted to that Jane girl one bit, but there was just something about her-

“Fury isn’t as bad as he lets off though,” she said.

_Says the cheerleader._

“He likes to play the hard ass, but he really does care. He likes to see people succeed, better themselves. You’ll see,” Natasha continued, a light smile on her face. Something had gone down between them.

They exited a pair of crimson doors and the sun assaulted Loki’s vision. He blocked the bright rays with his arm and groaned.

“Vampire,” Natasha said with a smirk. “There’s the gym and the football field.”

“I don’t think I’ll be seeing this all that much.”

“Yes, well your French class has a great view of the field, just so you know.” Natasha watched the teenage boys run around the field. She spotted Thor and their eyes met. He waved moronically. “And there’s your brother.”

“Yes. I can see that,” Loki said offhandedly. “Now can we get to class?”

Natasha seemed to want to say something but instead shrugged. She led him back into the building and to his first class, AP Government and Politics, which they shared.

Their teacher, Mr. Jameson, was very intense and critical. Loki sat front and center as directed by Jameson, which was fine since he would have sat there on his own anyway. He was handed the syllabus and a few other papers he would look over sometime later. Jameson was loud, practically yelling at them for some unknown reason. Loki could think of a few.

_He detests his job. His wife left him for a better man.  Stick up his arse. Or perhaps he hasn’t had anything up there in years._

After the first period bell Loki was the first to leave, avoiding Natasha Romanov at all costs. There was a fifteen minute break which he chose to spend alone. Thor’s texts went unread. He wandered the hallways, avoiding eye contact, until he found his second period classroom. Walking into the room he found it empty and thanked God for that. All he wanted was to sit in quiet and read his book. He’d read  _The Count of Monte Cristo_  before, but it was still one of his favorites. A story involving great loss that was, while without merit, self-inflicted due to the main character's naiveté. He could sympathize with a main character that lost everything and gave everything. Yes, he could sympathize, but not because he was such a giving person, no. Farbauti Laufeyson, once known as Farbauti Black, had come from a jaded background Loki would rather not think on, but she had rose from what many considered a bitter past, though not unscathed, and she did all that she could to help anyone before her demise. Even on the brink of death she chose to save another over herself.

She chose to save Loki. Why, he had no idea. She and his father, Nal Laufeyson, could just as easily have had another child. He could be replaced. But someone like Farbauti… there was no other like her. His mother was a one in a million, a sparkling jewel in the darkness, the one perfection in the corrupted world of man, and Loki and snow had stripped the life from her.

Loki slammed his book on the desk and let out an exasperated sigh. His head lowered onto his crossed arms and he would have given anything for his phone not to have rung at that particular moment, but of course it did. He removed it from his pocket and glared at the caller id. Groaning, Loki swiped his thumb across the screen and answered.

“What do you want, Hyrm?” He waited for his father’s friend and colleague to answer and sat up straight for posture sake. “Is that so? Well it is a charity, why wouldn’t LMC donate? Grundroth does not run this company, until my eighteenth birthday you are in charge, Hyrm, and you are to consult me, not that oaf.”

Loki sat silently, listening to the remainder of Hyrm’s information.

“I understand completely. Stark industries is not to be given any funding from us, do you hear? A company that owns hospitals should not be giving funds to a weapons company. No, give it to BC. Yes, the orphanages they support are much more deserving,” Loki instructed. His mother wouldn’t have had it any other way. He was very confident about the decision, with or without the addition of his mother’s preferences included. “To Africa?”

Another sigh escaped the teen’s lips. He smoothed his hair back and thought about how to handle the situations being thrown at him. They had a certain amount of money to distribute to certain charities. Nal had always contributed to Stark Industries, but Loki had no intention of following him in that respect. His current issue was to send money to an organization that aided children in different countries, gave them clothes, shelter and educations. Father would say he had to help out his own country before dealing with another.

“Yes, LMC will be supporting foreign aid. Thank you for the call Hyrm. What?” Loki almost laughed at the last question but held back, coughing as he choked. He smiled though, but it wasn’t like anyone could see him. “My first day is going like any other, Hyrm. I’ve become bored already. Friends? I think not. If I am to fully run the company by the time I’m twenty-five I can’t get attached to this small town. What a ridiculous thing to say.”

Loki froze. He shifted and mumbled something unintelligible.

“I said the Odinsons are fine. It’s not like I’ll be doing any family bonding. They are simply a house full of three people who happen to also be there before I am of age. Yes, it will be just like the New York flat. All I need is a place to stay, Hyrm. I’d be fine on my own if it were not for my father’s will and the law,” Loki said with mirth. He would not remain there for longer than two years. That was not the deal. After his graduation he was out of there. “Are we done now, Hyrm? The bell will be ringing soon and I’d like to finish this chapter. Of course I’m reading it, you gave it to me.”

Loki flipped his book back open to the page he’d lost. He was a master of finding misplaced pages. His hand smoothed the pages fondly and he closed his eyes.

“I am glad you called. I do not know what I would do without you, Hyrm, really. I appreciate your checking in on me. Yes, let’s not tell  _them_  about that.”

Both men laughed quietly.

“Good bye.”

Adjusting his phone to be silent, Loki sunk back down into his chair. His eyes stared miserably up at the ceiling. He was no longer in the mood to read. Now he just wanted coffee. Black. Strong. Not to abate his exhaustion, just to kick his ass into gear so he wouldn’t think about his parents or the business or even the disgustingly small town he had to live in.

He barely registered the bell ringing in the back of his mind, but when he opened his eyes, not realizing he’d fallen asleep at his desk, he was met with a pair of hazel eyes. His back straightened on instinct and the eyes followed him

“Interesting,” the voice belonging to the eyes said before turning back to the front of the classroom.

“What?” Loki lamely replied. He hadn’t been able to discern any prominent facial features before the person sitting in front of him retreated to his own phone. All he knew was that it was indeed a male, with short, light, russet hair and sun-bronzed skin. And a pair of intense hazel eyes he couldn’t get out of his mind for the rest of class.

 

-000-

 

Thor had been worried sick about his new brother. Had something happened? Did someone pick on him? No, Shield had no tolerance for bullying, Nicholas Fury had seen to that after hearing the stories from so many of his friends when he became principal a year and a half ago.

Feeling his phone vibrate against his hip, Thor whipped it out, flipping it open in the process. No, it wasn’t Loki. It was Clint, but perhaps he had news?

_Thor, found your bro. Also I eavesdropped. Don’t get all huffy, you need to hear this._

Now, Thor Odinson was not a gossip, nor was he the type to intentionally go looking for trashy news, but this was his new bro for god's sake! It wasn’t a matter of spying, he was only ensuring Loki was having a good time. 

Yeah… A good time… That’s it…


End file.
